1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is a process for forming alkyl vanadates by the reaction of vanadium pentoxide and an alkyl alcohol.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The preparation of alkyl vanadates, which are useful as catalysts, by means of the reaction of vanadium pentoxide and an alkyl alcohol has been characterized as one which involves "great difficulty" (U.S. Pat. No. 3,987,074 to R. Haase at Col. 1, lines 28-29) in regard to removing by-product water to drive the reaction to a greater degree of completion. A number of techniques to remove by-product water have been proposed including the use of certain specific azeotroping solvents as the reaction medium. For example, in Bull. Acad. Sci. U.S.S.R. 1959, pp. 899-900 and in U.S. Pat. No. 3,920,751 to P. Charbardes et al. (Examples 5 and 6), the specific use of benzene as an azeotroping solvent is proposed. An improvement to this technique in which toluene, a specific aromatic solvent, is suggested, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,657,295 to D. R. McCoy. The patent to McCoy also shows that use of xylene, another aromatic solvent, is ineffective.